In March of the first year of the Great Song Dynasty, Shazhou City.

Shazhou, also known as Dunhuang, is a famous city outside the country, a passage connecting the Hexi Corridor and the Gaochang Uighurs, and a pearl on the Silk Road. After the rise of the Western Xia, the Silk Road was forced to be diverted due to the successive wars of the Song and Xia. Shazhou, which had lost its past caravans, inevitably weakened and lost its former prosperity.

However, due to the defeat and subjugation of Western Xia a few years ago, the Hexi Corridor became busy again, and Shazhou once again became an important town for the exchange of "Upper Peach Blossom Stone" and "Lower Peach Blossom Stone".

The whole city suddenly became noisy and noisy, with people of all nationalities mingling with each other. Fleets of camels, fleets of chariots and horses, constantly passing through the city. He brought furs and livestock from the Western Regions, silk and porcelain from the Central Plains.

But the most eye-catching thing here in Shazhou these days is the army that has come from the east!

There are iron harriers and Xiliang cavalry from Liangzhou - the so-called Xiliang cavalry is the original garrison, Xixia has become the Hexi army, naturally can no longer have the name of "garrison", "garrison" can have the meaning of defending the emperor, so the garrison army was renamed Xiliang cavalry. It became the name of the light cavalry unit under the Hexi Army.

By the way, the current Hexi Army has also adopted the method of organizing the new government soldiers of the Song Dynasty, and standardized the organization of units such as "generals, departments, battalions, teams, and fires". However, the proportion of cavalry is very high, usually a light cavalry division plus two infantry divisions, and a battalion of iron harriers (or not) to form a general.

Because the cavalry battalion had fewer soldiers, only 300 cavalry, the most soldiers of a general of the Hexi Army were only 4,200, which was 800 fewer than the generals of the Xinfu soldiers of the Song Army.

In addition, the Hexi Army also has a kind of cavalry general, which is composed of three cavalry divisions and an iron harrier battalion, and the total number of soldiers is only 3,000.

After several months of reorganization, the entire Hexi Army was composed of 7 generals, 4 cavalry generals (one of which would have no Iron Harrier battalion), and a 2,000-strong personal army. The total strength is about 43,000 people.

Now, except for one cavalry general (the one without the Iron Harrier Battalion) and Zhao Qianshun's personal army still in Liangzhou, the remaining 7 infantry generals and 3 cavalry generals, a total of about 38,400 soldiers, have all been concentrated in Guazhou. With the accompanying auxiliaries (the proportion of auxiliaries in the Hexi Army was not as high as the original Western Xia Army) and tribal nomads, the total number was as high as 70,000!

In addition to these 70,000 troops, the Great Religious Regiment also concentrated a large army, including 2 generals with an engineer battalion and a baggage battalion, without a cavalry battalion, and 2,000 heavy cavalry. In addition, the Great Sect was equipped with 5,000 auxiliaries for 2 infantry generals and 4,000 auxiliary cavalry for heavy cavalry. In total, more than 19,000 people have been reached.

On the basis of the nearly 90,000 men of the two armies, there is also a general corps that includes dozens of military commanders, hundreds of heralds, hundreds of guards and a large number of auxiliaries, as the "headquarters" of the two commanders, Zhao Zhongshun and Zhang Yuan.

The formation of the General Central Army was of course the result of the Lingzhou Conference, and the two sides that were originally noisy and noisy were quickly agreed under the strong pressure of Gao Yu and Wu Haogu (Wu Haogu represented the creditor). A "collegial system" was adopted in which Zhao Zhongshun, Zhang Yuan, Xiao Heda, Ma Zheng, and Li Yongqi jointly held the supreme command -- in the event of disagreement, the final decision was made by a five-member group vote...... It's a bit of a general front committee!

Although this is a bit chaotic, it is not as good as a commander-in-chief, but it is more reliable than a dispute between the two sides.

……

"Ladies and gentlemen, the weather is getting hotter now, and if you don't march in, it will be difficult to pass through the desert!"

In Shazhou City, the original palace of the vultures has now become the garrison of the General Middle Army. In a palace that was not very spacious, Zhang Yuan sat in the middle, smiled and looked at Zhao Zhongshun, Xiao Heda, Ma Zheng and Li Yongqi who were sitting on both sides, and spoke.

The "five-member group" must always have a host. Zhang Yuan is a civil official of the Great Song Dynasty and a great teacher of the Great Education Group, so he should naturally sit on the top spot with "civil and imperial martial arts".

"It's not easy for an army of 90,000 to march together," Zhao Zhongshun, the original King of Jin, said, "Although we have prepared a large number of cattle and sheep, the pasture on Qinghai Road is limited, and now is not the season for the fattest water and grass. The 90,000-strong army marched at the same time, and I am afraid that it will exhaust the vitality of Qinghai Road. It's better to divide the road and advance in batches. ”

The principle of marching and fighting a war is, of course, to concentrate forces, but the concentration of forces sometimes increases the pressure on logistics and roads.

From Qinghai Road to Khotan, it will take more than a month to walk fast. It is unrealistic to rely on logistics transportation, and only cattle and sheep can be driven thousands of miles to accompany them.

If the cattle and sheep are starving to death and thirsty, then the army can only go home.

"In addition," Zhao Zhongshun said, "it is very likely that the Black Khan Rebellion will be in the Khotan Fortified Wall, and if the army gathers, it will not be easy to collect grain and grass." ”

"So what to do?" Zhang Yuan looked at Ma Zheng and Li Yongqi - these two people were generals sent by Wu Haogu and Gao Yu to assist him! Although it is not his own team, he must have the ability of others.

"You can choose the elite to advance," Li Yongqi said, "There are 1,500 armored cavalry, 1,500 light cavalry, two battalions of engineers, and one infantry, which is enough to occupy Khotanese City!" If Khotan City is taken, it should be able to seize a lot of grain and grass, which is enough to meet the supply of the follow-up army. ”

"Just 8,500 soldiers?" Zhang Yuan frowned, "Is it enough?" ”

"Enough!" Xiao Heda said, "As long as the soldiers and horses of the Western Great Turkic State are not available, how many soldiers can the Black Khan rebel capture?" According to investigation, the elite of the Black Khan's rebellion is the Gulam soldiers, all of whom are trained by teenagers bought from the Kipchak steppe, with a maximum of one or two thousand, and the rest are not enough to worry about. ”

It's so elite?

Zhang Yuan was a little unconvinced.

Xiao Heda said: "At the same time, you can also send a force to cross the desert into the Gaochang Uighurs, this army is best to be based on light cavalry, and it is enough to have three cavalry generals of the Hexi Army. ”

The three cavalry will have only 9,000 soldiers, of which 900 are Iron Harriers...... That's all there is to the capital of the Black Khanate? Zhang Yuanxin said: No wonder the Western Thieves will be beaten into the Hexi Army by Gao Yu, their generals are at this level, it is difficult not to lose!

"Xiao Junji," Ma Zheng asked, "is it that the Uighurs of Gaochang are preparing to send troops?" What benefits have you given them? ”

Xiao Heda smiled: "Of course the Gaochang Uighurs did it with us!" After the deed was accomplished, Balasagon and Qiuzi were all owned by the Uighurs of Gaochang, and our Hexi army took Khotan and Shule. ”

Balasagon was in the territory of Broken Leaf Town, which was originally the fourth town of Anxi, and giving Palasagon to the Uighurs of Gaochang was equivalent to giving them Broken Leaves. Qiuzi is the homeland of the Uighurs of Ghochang and was captured by the Black Khan Uighurs decades ago. The town of Shule is now the sub-capital of the Black Khan Uighurs, Kashgar, whose control area in the direction of Kashgar extends to most of the Pamir Plateau, bordering Afghanistan controlled by the Ghazni dynasty.

If the Hexi Army could occupy the entire Kashgar region. Then they will be able to open the way to Afghanistan!

In addition, between the two towns of Shule (Kashgar) and Khotan and the rest of the Black Khan Uighurs, there were also the Green Mountains (Pamirs) and the Tien Shan Mountains, which made it difficult for the army to enter and exit. After capturing the second town, only a small number of troops need to be invested to hold the Tulu Atidaban Pass, and the Seljuk reinforcements can be prevented from attacking Shule and Khotan.

Therefore, it seems to be a wise move to abandon Barasagon and not take it.

……

"Da Lang, the Hexi Army and the Great Education Regiment have finally sent troops, but they are just ......"

"What's wrong? Brother Gao, is there something wrong? ”

Lingzhou, the Xuanfu Envoy of the Northwest Third Road, in the inner hall, Wu Haogu and Gao Yu are studying the report of the General Army Corps just received around a map platform - Wu Haogu was stranded because he had just received the will of the new army general in Lingzhou, and he didn't need to ask about the affairs of the whole army, and he had his own general army machine room.

So he and Gao Yu studied the military report sent back from the front.

"Of course not!" Gao Yu said, "The soldiers are divided into two roads, one way 8,500 soldiers, one way 9,000 soldiers...... There are less than 20,000 people in one piece, and they have 43,000 soldiers! Why did you make such a small dispatch? How can this be done with soldiers? ”

Wu Hao Gu Xindao: Gathering 43,000 people is to fight Indian Ah San...... Against the Black Khan Uighurs, 17,500 men should be enough.

"And there's a way to copy Barasagon!" Gao Yu said, "Balashagon is in Broken Leaf Town, so far away......"

Wu Haogu immediately found the location of Barasagon on the map, and his brows furrowed.

"Who is it that went to Barasagon?"

"Xiao Heda," Gao Yu said, "the dispatches are all Hexi elites, and there are also a few of our military planes that should accompany them." ”

"Who are they?"

"Liu Dashi, Han Dagou, Xiao Tieniu."

Liu Dashi is Yelu Dashi! Of course, Wu Haogu couldn't let him use the surname Yelu to swagger around, which was too sensitive, so he changed it to Yelu's homonym "Liu".

And Han Dagou and Xiao Tieniu, Wu Haogu also knew each other, one was a child of the Han family in Yutian, and the other was a child of the Khitan Xiao family, both of whom were Liao.

"Xiao Heda is also a Liao!" Wu Haogu muttered to himself, "Could it be that the Liao Kingdom also wants to intervene?" ”

"How could the Liao State interfere?" Gao Yu shook his head and said, "Although they border the Black Khan Uighurs, they don't have any soldiers and horses on the border. And they are now at peace in the country, and they have to go on an expedition, what good can it be? Could it be that they still want to occupy a piece of land in the territory of the Black Khan Uighurs? Do they have the strength to defend it? ”

Wu Haogu smiled and said to himself: "It won't be so simple, there must be a reason...... Let's see! If the Liao country wants to insert a foot, just insert it, a certain family doesn't care! ”